Holiday Lights

I'm a fan of Christmas. Probably this won't surprise any of the six of you who read this blog. But let's just start off with that general statement. Jenn likes Christmas. I've been known to sing carols in April, and to decorate very small areas, such as dorm room or lockers. This year, however, we have a whole house at our disposal. Right, we were here last Christmas, but between two new jobs and the move the day after Thanksgiving, we didn't really achieve to our potential, last year. We've made larger strides this year.

This is the first time in my WHOLE life I've been in a place conducive to hanging lights outside. Last Saturday, Nathan was minding his own business, sitting on the sofa, playing on his computer, when I decided to hang our outdoor lights. Well, you can see how that turned out.

From blog stuff

Yep. That's Nathan on the roof hanging the lights.



Don't get me wrong. I would have been happy to get on the roof and hang the lights, but that's specifically why Nathan feels like he should do it. I'm way more comfortable up high, and so, somehow, he figures that makes me more of a risk. I was a very good ladder holder, when I wasn't taking the photos. :)

My contribution to our "lightscape" was two strands of snowflake lights strung through two of our front garden beds. These things are cool. They are snowflakes on stakes, and you can set them to either stay white all night, or set them to "spectra," which means they cycle through six different colors. They are SOLAR powered....so they charge all day, and then glow through the night. Plus, like all our holiday lights this year, they are LEDs--very bright, and energy efficient. Though a bit difficult to photograph:


Here they are, in our front yard, a little blurry. They are set to spectra, but because the photo took thirty seconds to take, or something, they cycled through their whole color spectrum, and here they look white. That's kinda cool theoretically, but kinda annoying photographically.

Here's one all swirly:


In conclusion, let me say, that in the past, I've been known to be somewhat critical of the light displays of other folks, who, let's face it, are probably just as enthused about Christmas as I am. In fact, a certain someone and I (Hi Lacy!) spent hours every year, driving around rating Christmas Lights Displays, for our own amusement. We have our own rating scale, called the HollyBerry Scale, where one HollyBerry is not so great and five HollyBerries are awarded to the most lovely, most precise displays.

I stand by our system! I do! If you're going to hang lights, people, hang them with pride!! But I have come to understand this year just exactly how MUCH goes into the precise hanging of lights. It's not easy. Even for people with good intentions and husbands wiling to climb ladders. Our house is not a Five HollyBerry house. Not this year, anyway. :)